By: Ashmar Mandou

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, CEO of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, Dr. John Jay Shannon visited Erie Family Health Center on Monday, Nov. 17th for a roundtable discussion on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Patients receiving ACA were informed with the benefits of the program and the importance of enrolling in coverage under ACA.

“To date, more than 700,000 people have healthcare in Illinois because of the Affordable Care Act,” Durbin said. “Nationwide, 8 million Americans enrolled in a private health insurance plan during open enrollment last year and 6 million gained coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The law addressed some of the most glaring gaps in America’s health care system by strengthening Medicare, helping seniors save on their prescription drug costs, allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance, making preventive services like cancer screenings more accessible, stopping insurance companies from dropping individuals once they sick and ending discrimination based on preexisting conditions. Illinois families are better off today as a direct result of this important law.” The deadline to enroll is February 15th, 2015.

“The Affordable Care Act is the most transformative piece of legislation in this country in decades. Since 2013, more than 100,000 Cook County residents have had access to comprehensive health care—many for the first time in their lives—through our Medicaid expansion program called CountyCare. The bottom line is that the Affordable Care Act and CountyCare allow us to maintain our mission of providing care to everyone who needs it while upholding our commitment to the taxpayers of Cook County to streamline the costs of health care,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

Photo 1:
Senator Durbin, President Preckwinkle, and Cook County Health & Hospitals System CEO Dr. Jay Shannon talk to an Erie navigator.

Photo 2:
(L-R): Affordable Care Act patients Jessica Torres and Celeste Goering, Erie Chief Clinical Officer Dr. David Buchanan, Senator Dick Durbin, President Preckwinkle, CEO of Cook County Health & Hospitals System Dr. Jay Shannon